THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 20, 1995 TAG: 9501200009
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
On Jan. 24, Virginia will test its new killing machine. Last year the General Assembly passed ``lethal injection'' as the ``New Age'' way of killing prisoners who have been sentenced to death. Del. Phil Hamilton of Newport News was finally able to convince his colleagues that it is more ``humane'' to inject a lethal dose of drugs into the blood stream of the prisoner as he lays strapped down to a gurney.
It should be noted that the electric chair, and before that the gas chamber, firing squad, hanging -even the guillotine - were all introduced because they were more humane.
We should not be fooled into thinking that there is any less torture involved in strapping a prisoner to a gurney, having him lie there while ``technicians'' probe for an appropriate vein, then wait for the saline solution to clear his blood stream and continue waiting for the lethal drugs to be administered. There are a number of cases where the technicians had to spend quite a bit of time probing their ``patients''' veins.
We will likely see more death sentences handed down by juries since they can rationalize that lethal injection will ``hurt less.''
Lethal injection also reopens the debate over the medical establishment being involved in state killing. We should not be led to believe that this apparent ``clean and sanitary'' form of killing is any less torturous than any other form yet devised.
HENRY HELLER, chair
Virginians for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty
Faber, Jan. 3, 1995 by CNB